Dalian iron ore futures moved largely sideways today. The main contract, I2605, eventually closed at 781.5, an increase of 0.58% compared to the previous working day. Traders offloaded cargoes at prevailing market rates, while steel mills procured on a hand-to-mouth basis with few enquiries. The overall trading atmosphere was subdued.
In the spot market, transaction prices for PB Fines in the Shandong region were recorded at 791–795 CNY, remaining largely stable compared to last Friday. In the Hebei region, PB Fines changed hands at 805–813 CNY/tonne, also holding steady against Friday’s levels. Regarding supply-side data, SMM shipping statistics show that global iron ore shipments totalled 35.77 million tonnes last week, an increase of 2.6 million tonnes (up 7.8%) period-onperiod. During this cycle, shipments from Australia, Brazil, and non-mainstream sources all recorded growth. Meanwhile, the total volume of iron ore arriving at Chinese ports was 28.06 million tonnes, a marginal decrease of 30,000 tonnes period-on-period, suggesting supply remains relatively stable.On the demand side, although environmental production curbs have affected some restarts in Hebei, other blast furnaces have entered maintenance, resulting in a narrowing decline in overall demand. In the absence of fresh bullish macroeconomic policies in the short term, ore prices are expected to continue their rangebound trend.

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Source: Metals Market Index (MMI)